Angela Thomas won the Community Champion category in WDH’s 2018 Love Where You Live Awards.
Angela set up The Bag Fairies in November 2014 at The Pavilion, South Kirkby. The group supports anyone in need in the local community. Angela and the group have provided clothing for people, ranging from new-borns to older people, as well as providing bedding, towels and homewares for the homeless and vulnerable who are moving into their own accommodation. The Bag Fairies are self-funded and rely solely on donations, there is no referral service and customers can just call in when they need to. They also provide a number of personal hygiene toiletries to the vulnerable and homeless and work closely with WDH Cash Wise to support families in need. The group is going from strength to strength and their room is packed to the rafters with donations. Angela goes above and beyond to help and all of this is done in her own time.
On winning the award, she said: “Community is not just a word, it is an attitude. Bag fairies is a community in action reaching out to help all those around us who are vulnerable and in need, so I am delighted to have won this award on their behalf.”

Janet Ward runs the Hemsworth Open Heart Memory Café each month. The café is run by a group of volunteers and is regularly attended by 30 to 40 people from across the South East of Wakefield. The café is for people with Alzheimer’s and their carers and provides a place where they can come along and socialise with others. They provide a number of activities suitable for people with dementia and older people including boccia, jigsaws, bean bag activities and regular sing alongs. The group also hold another weekly session for older people which aims at reducing social isolation amongst the older community and are looking at organising some trips for them.

Tenants, residents and community groups were among the winners at WDH’s annual Love Where You Live Awards grand final last night.
The event, held at Wakefield’s Cedar Court Hotel and sponsored by Sodexo, celebrated local community heroes who make the Wakefield district a better place to live.

Voting for the winner of our Love Where You Live Awards is now open. You can place your votes for your community champions on the dedicated website, www.lovewhereyouliveawards.co.uk, which has information on each finalist.

Smawthorne Welfare Action Team won the Community Group Category in WDH’s 2017 Love Where You Live Awards having beat previous champions Havercroft Parents Forum after a fierce battle for digital votes.